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A line cook in Chicago told me to stop weighing everything and I still think about it.
I was working a busy brunch shift about 5 years ago, plating eggs benedict, and I was measuring the hollandaise to the gram. This older cook, Marco, leaned over and said, 'You're making paint, not food.' He said if I couldn't tell by look and feel after a hundred batches, the scale was a crutch. I argued that consistency was key, especially for cost, but he just shook his head. It stuck with me because now I do both, but I start with my eyes and hands. Has anyone else had a mentor push them to rely less on tools and more on instinct?
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allen.cole5d ago
Marco had a point about the feel of a sauce. I once tried to weigh out roux by the gram and ended up with wallpaper paste. My chef just sighed and said my scales were for the bakery, not the stove. Now I go by the sheen off the spoon and the way it coats the back.
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Got a similar talk about pan sauces from an old grill guy. He made me taste the reduction every 30 seconds with a clean spoon to learn how the flavor and thickness change by feel. Now I know it's ready when it just starts to stick to the spoon for a second before it falls.
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